Sheriff, municipal judge brief council on proposed renewal of jail levy (Measure 5304); officials warn of service disruptions if it fails

Sheriff Pixley and Judge Amy Lindgren appeared at the St. Helens City Council work session on April 2 to describe a county request to renew an existing jail levy at the same rate of 58¢ per $1,000 and to explain potential operational consequences if the measure does not pass.

The presenters said the levy is a status‑quo request and that without it the county faces the real possibility of closing the local jail. "We're asking voters to renew the existing jail levy at the same rate of 58¢ per thousand," Sheriff Pixley said. Judge Lindgren told the council that, without local jail capacity, the municipal court would not be able to process criminal cases in the same way: "I don't see how the municipal court can process criminal cases. So it would be like having a traffic court where you can't have any consequence," she said.

Why it matters: presenters said local jail capacity underpins arrest processing, transports and enforcement. Sheriff Pixley said revenue now includes federal contracts (renting beds to the U.S. Marshals Service) and county general‑fund support; he told the council that, if the levy lapses after its June 30 expiration, the county would be left with roughly $4,000,000 from U.S. Marshals contracts and about $1,000,000 from the general fund—amounts he said would be insufficient to run the facility long term.

Details presented to the council included current bed‑rental practices and contract costs. Sheriff Pixley said the county charges the U.S. Marshals about $127 per night per inmate under current contracts and that contracting rates for other agencies could differ. He described scenarios in which the county would have to transport inmates outside the county and negotiate nightly housing fees with other jails, and said those arrangements would increase transport obligations for deputies: "It's all a contractual issue at that point," he said.

Judge Lindgren and other speakers outlined downstream effects on municipal case processing. Lindgren said low‑level criminal matters often rely on municipal courts for timely prosecution and that if local capacity is lost, many lower‑level offenses might not be prosecuted because the district attorney's office and circuit court lack capacity to absorb them.

Council questions focused on the scope of impacts and operational details. Sheriff Pixley said the current levy expires June 30, and he described contingency planning including possible adjustments to the jail’s contracted population with the U.S. Marshals—"what I came up with is if we raise our Marshall population from 80 to about 70.5, that will still be enough to fill in that gap," he said—language used by the presenter during discussion of budget balancing. Councilors also asked about the effect on transports for people on psychiatric holds and about possible staff reductions; presenters said some transports and services could be curtailed if capacity declines.

No formal council vote or formal endorsement was recorded during the work session. Presenters encouraged council members and residents to review the ballot language and ask questions; the levy measure appears on the May ballot as listed by presenters. The presenters gave contact information for follow‑up questions.